The word, apparently from people who knew him well:
http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4373&mforum=trolllordgames
I was lamenting this at work this morning, and was shocked by how many of my co-workers (all nerds to at least some degree) didn’t know who he was. Too bad. He was a legend.
Would it be a stretch to call him, aside from Tolkien, the man most responsible for shaping the modern fantasy oeuvre?
R.I.P. Gary.
Ouch…that one hurts. 
Thanks so much for everything you’ve brought to the table, Gary. You’ll be missed.
And so the Vice-Presidential Action Rangers are one member short for their next patrol of the space-time continuum.
I guess the Grim Reaper had the initiative, and was armed with a scythe that has too many hit points.
I didn’t know that much about him, but he was responsible for hundreds of hours of fun for me when I was in my teens. RIP.
I feel… [rolls dice] …sad.
I had heard that the delays in continuing Castle Zagyg was because he had been having health issues. End of an era.
Farewell, oh great Dungeonmaster! You gave a geeky teen an outlet for his imagination and a place to gather with other kids who were not part of the “in” crowd. * When I was in the Army I found other gamers and we would spend our off-duty time running campaigns. If someone was on late night signal duty we’d gather in the signal room and battle. During our week long deployments to our secure site there was nothing to do so we could have an epic adventure. Sure, we’d go to the bars or pick up women but we didn’t get into as much trouble as some guys and we could actually save some money because we weren’t constantly out getting wasted.
So goodbye Mr. Gygax. I hope your adventures in the next realm are as wonderful as the ones you brought to this one.
*Please don’t jump on me for this and say that not every gamer was a geek or loser. I only know that I never saw a jock, preppy or “cool” kid that was in to D&D. OK, we occasionally got a few stoners.
So no one had a resurrection spell?
Guess he failed his saving throw (I used that same line for David Sutherland, early D&D illustrator )
Brian
I don’t think it’d be a stretch at all.
I can’t claim to know a lot about the man personally but I’ve read the old AD&D 1st ed books cover to cover a million times as well as his old Dragon columns. I can credit him with my interest in fantasy and probably a fair bit with my increased literacy.
Absolutely. AD&D touches on history, mathematics, statistics, literature, and much more.
I haven’t played AD&D in years, but this totally bums me out.
Read my above edit line, and then go get your cup.
Goodbye, Gary. May your memory endure as a blessing.
My buddy Jeff, (currently has a role as creepy killer guy in Damages, by the way) was doing some writing for Gygax’s Castle and Crusades. He found it very cool to be working with Gygax, but noted that the man had some very bizarre prejudices, especially with regards to NPC names.
Suck.
I propose we have a moment’s silence 15’ radius.
One of the guys in my gaming group is a high school football coach.
Very sad news. Looking back, as another poster mentioned, I’m amazed at how much history, mythology, art, math, drawing, vocabulary, and social skills I picked up as a side effect of reading and playing his games.
That’s right, social skills. Running meetings and presentations in the corporate world is exactly like DMing a difficult player group.
(still know the difference between a ranseur and a glaive-guisarme)